Supersaturated Solution Salt

Information about Supersaturated Solution Salt

Special conditions need to be met in order to generate a supersaturated solution. One of the easiest ways to do this relies on the temperature dependence of solubility. As a general rule, the more heat is added to a system, the more soluble a substance becomes. (There are exceptions where the opposite is true). Therefore, at high temperatures, more solute can be dissolved than at lower temperatures. If this solution were to be suddenly cooled at a rate faster than the rate of precipitation, the solution will become supersaturated until the solute precipitates to the temperature-determined saturation point. The precipitation or crystallization of the solute takes longer than the actual cooling time because the molecules need to meet up and form the precipitate without being knocked apart by water. Thus, the larger the molecule, the longer the solute will take to crystallize due to the principles of Brownian motion.